Spear of Destiny James Baldwin (free romance novels .TXT) 📖

“Where did you get all of this? And the blueprints?” Soma rubbed his hand over the metal sphere Gar had removed from Perilous Symphony.

“Meewhome!” Rin replied cheerfully. “We went there to find this stuff.”

Soma sneered. “Ahh. Yet another thing the cats ‘liberated’ from the mainland, is it?”

“They made all of these artifacts,” I replied sourly. “The console, the first nine Warsingers, and the Chorus Vaults where the Warsingers were stored.”

Soma let out a derisive laugh. “Pull the other leg, Dragozin. They are a dull, indolent species who are barely capable of laboring in prisons, let alone producing masterworks like these. No, this is the work of humankind, no doubt about it.”

“Hector’s right, though,” Rin insisted. “The Meewfolk made all of this. The blueprints are written in an ancient form of their language.”

Soma didn’t seem to know what to make of that. He hemmed and hawed for a moment, then cleared his throat. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. We’re sure.” I resisted the urge to reach up and grab his ear, pull his head down, and headbutt him in the teeth. Instead, I turned to adjust Karalti’s saddle cinch, rolling my eyes where he couldn’t see. “Anyway, we need those sonic weapons more than we need the blueprints right now, so please work on those first and keep us posted. Karalti and I are going to run a quest for Vash, but you should be able to send PMs.”

“Will do! I’ll update you as soon as I can.” Rin, obviously grateful to be off the subject of Meewfolk, nodded enthusiastically. “Come on, Soma! Let’s get started!”

“Yes, yes. You know, perhaps I should work on this console while you manage this weapon project?” Soma asked her, already ignoring my orders in favor of his true passion: figuring out the best outcome for himself.

“Ugh.” Karalti groaned to me telepathically as I climbed back up to the base of her neck. “At least he isn’t trying to flirt with me this time.”

“Right? He’s like the worst combination of a Silicon Valley tech bro and some white guy’s old racist uncle,” I replied. “Wonder what he’s going to say when Ignas announces our impending alliance with Meewhome.”

“I don’t care what he has to say about it, actually.” Karalti launched herself from the ground, her powerful wings driving up clouds of dust and loose gravel. “Whatever his opinions are, they’re probably rubbish.”

I watched the lights of the college recede, and turned my face toward the southern horizon as Karalti banked into a thermal, using it to rest in preparation for teleporting. “You want to fly home the long way for once? Just you and me, the sky… you know.”

“Sure. Why not? It’s been a while since I got to stretch my wings properly.” Karalti broke out of the thermal, levelling out into a swift glide.

“You’re not really mad at me about Solai, are you?” I asked.

“No, not really. You WERE pretty drugged. I tried speaking to you a few times, but all I got was this endless stream of durrrrrrr.” Karalti flicked a wingtip as we sailed out over the crystalline blue lake that marked the border of Litvy, breaking out over the vivid green wilderness that lay beyond the city. “Also, I talked with Suri about some stuff while you were… uhh… busy.”

“Stuff?”

“It’s embarrassing.”

I laughed aloud. “Tidbit, how many times have you tuned into me when I’m in the middle of something embarrassing and-or intimate?”

My dragon huffed. “Well, I told Suri what happened when you two were together in Bas, and that I thought she was really beautiful, and… yeah. She was nice about it, but…”

“But?”

“She thanked me, but said she thinks of me more like a sister than anything else. She’s really comfortable sharing you with me, but she doesn’t want the three of us to… you know. She asked me not to tune in again, too. You know, when you are her are together.”

“Oh.” I drew a deep breath, not sure if I was disappointed—or relieved. “So… what did you say?”

“I told her I understood,” Karalti said. “I’m not sure I like girls in that way, either. When I thought about it, I was excited because you were excited. I hope that if I ever take a mate, you’ll like him in the same way.”

“Maybe.” I paused for a moment. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle it, to be honest. If some husky boy dragon ever takes a liking to you, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

“Me either, to be honest.” Karalti paused awkwardly. “Really, I want you to catch me. The first time, and every time after that. But what Lahati said is weighing on me a bit. I might be the only Queen dragon left on Artana. And if I am, I have a duty to my people to find a mate and establish my linage. I WANT to do that. I just… don’t want to do it with anyone else but you.”

I closed my eyes and drew a deep breath. “Weird question: what about polymorph?”

“Huh?”

“Instead of you turning into a human, could you like… turn me into a dragon?”

Karalti thought about it for a few minutes. I could almost hear the gears in her head turning. “No. You know how when I polymorph, I only kinda look like a human?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, I think I could kind of turn you into a dragon. But you won’t BE a dragon. You get what I mean?”

“I think so.” I frowned, troubled. “I guess we’ll just have to roll with what we’ve got for now.”

“Yeah. And that’s not too bad, is it?” Karalti mused to herself as she headed towards the distant ruins of the Prezyemi Line. “Hey, there’s something I want to do after we’re finished helping Vash.”

“What’s that?”

“I want to take you to my favorite hot